May wordy round-up
☕️ Stuff I think you'll love
This month's wandering took me from the Austrian Alps on screen to transformation stories in real life, with plenty of smaller pilgrimages in between.
Here's what caught my attention in May -
A TV show about celebrities discussing faith in the Alps that got me thinking about midlife women's business paths
What my great-great-grandmother (14 children, couldn't write, died just 100 years ago) taught me about how far we've come
Three perfect writer-adjacent discoveries, including mugs that reveal their profanities only when you've earned them
(Reading time 8 mins)
The long walk: May pilgrimages
It's been a month where my viewing time was squeezed tighter than my gardening gloves, but I did manage to catch Pilgrimage on BBC. Three episodes of familiar faces trudging through the Alps, discussing faith and life's big questions. I tuned in for the alpine scenery (my favourite summer holiday involves mountains, lakes, coffee and the absence of beach crowds) but stayed for something more thoughtful.
The show mainly avoids the usual televisual hand-holding – no unnecessary exposition or manufactured drama about blisters. Just people walking, talking and occasionally having moments of clarity between the peaks. It got me thinking again about something I've noticed with the women I work with – how many of us seem drawn to some form of pilgrimage. Not necessarily just religious ones, but also journeys of discovery and reinvention. Whether it's walking ancient paths, changing careers or finally figuring out how to articulate decades of hard-won expertise, we're often looking for something different at this life stage.
I also remembered a post I wrote about pilgrimage narratives in branding and how they resonate with midlife women. Midlife journeys often start with a shift we can pinpoint – empty nest, health scare, divorce or simply the powerful realisation that time is precious. I see this constantly with clients: they arrive ready to stop doing mundane things with their messaging and start saying what they actually mean. The pilgrimage metaphor works because we seek fresh starts, novelty, change or balance – whether that's a literal walk across the Alps or finally being able to explain what we do without sounding like we swallowed a corporate handbook.
Plot Twist stories: modern transformation paths
This month I shared two Plot Twist Award profiles that perfectly illustrate the pilgrimage theme – Karen Bennett and Berenice Howard-Smith. Both women became designers in midlife, following paths that led them away from the career they started.
Like many of us, Karen initially saw her pivot as leaving behind her former skills and knowledge. But she discovered that wandering career paths often circle back to collect the wisdom we've gathered along the way.
Berenice's journey followed a different route entirely: a bold pivot that unfolded in the wake of finding herself childless not by choice. It led her to return to a creative passion that once defined her.
Sometimes our earliest interests contain the seeds of our most meaningful work, even when – perhaps especially when – the story we thought we'd be living turns out differently than planned. Building a business in midlife, it’s tempting to view our previous experience as irrelevant baggage. But actually, our varied backgrounds are exactly what make us stand out.
We felt all of this when Sarah Knight (
) and I hosted our Plot Twist Awards party. It was magical: a room full of stories that proved just how many routes we have to find our place in the world.My own mini May pilgrimages
Smaller scale wandering for me this month. But no less satisfying. The sweet peas are showing signs of life, as are the dahlias.
Made the most of bluebell season with plenty of walks through violet carpets that make you understand why people write terrible poetry about the countryside. Bluebell timing is brief – blink and you miss the peak.
Gearing up for my annual Chelsea Flower Show binge-watch. It's become a reliable summer tradition: vicarious gardening while sitting comfortably with no mud under my fingernails.
I've also been dabbling in genealogy, following ancestral paths that are proving more scenic than expected. I’ve been scrolling through nineteenth-century census records and wondering what stories got lost along the way. It’s easier to trace men than women, because the men are the ones who are named on all the records. However I unearthed (only metaphorically) my great-great-grandmother, who had 14 children and couldn’t write. I hadn’t considered a link between those two things!
The stark reminder of how far we've come hit me harder than expected. A century ago, my great-great-grandmother's identity was defined by her relationship to men - her husband, her father - and her reproductive capacity. Little voice, no vote (she died 5 years before universal suffrage in the UK), no signature on documents unless the Head of the Family wasn’t available. Now here I am, 102 years later, helping women find their professional voices, making choices she couldn't have imagined. What do you think of that, Eliza Jane? The distance we've travelled in just four generations feels both enormous and fragile. A reminder to not take any of it for granted.
Professional wanderings
Client-side, I’ve been guiding others through their own transformations in May. A SaaS project that started with positioning and messaging, evolved naturally into the kind of work that bridges the gap between "what we do" and "how people actually find and buy from us."
A platform-as-a-service project began with hours of research (my favourite kind of detective work, next to genealogy) and led to landing page and web copy.
Still developing my messaging notebook for midlife business-builders – a place to record those breakthrough moments when the perfect way to describe your work finally crystallises. These insights tend to arrive at inconvenient moments (3am, mid-shower, halfway through someone else's conversation) and deserve better than the back of an envelope.
Fellow travellers
l’ve discovered more kindred spirits on similar paths. NYT bestselling author Gretchen Rubin (whose podcast I've enjoyed for years) launched her Substack Secrets of Adulthood. Lucy Patterson wrote a brilliant piece - Dear Vogue ... Gen X Women have always been cool.
HSBC released an interesting report on midlife women entrepreneurs that's worth your time. I shared my directory of midlife women business consultants – brilliant minds working across various functions. I’m looking forward to seeing Cat Googe, the laughter yoga facilitator from our Plot Twist party, bring her particular brand of enthusiasm to Atomicon next month, proving that joy travels in interesting circles.
Speaking of Atomicon – I'm especially enthused about talks by copywriter Laura Belgray and AI expert Heather Murray. Are you going? Let’s catch up for coffee.
SEO expert Nikki Pilkington shared insights on AI search for small business owners. My clients’ interest in optimising copy for AI is growing, so this was practical guidance for navigating yet another technological shift.
Tools for the journey
Three product discoveries for you this month, all pleasingly writer-adjacent. Illustrated matchboxes with beautiful square designs that make lighting candles feel like a small ceremony. Limited edition bird prints that look exactly like a vintage postage stamp – the kind of pleasing detail that makes you stop and look closer. And handcrafted ceramic mugs with profanities stamped at the bottom, to be revealed when you've finished your coffee.
What's on your route this summer?
That's my May wandering summed up. Literal alpine paths on screen, metaphorical business journeys in real life, plus plenty of smaller expeditions in between. The pilgrimage theme keeps cropping up because it feels true. We're walking towards something different at this stage, whether that's a clearer sense of purpose, better words for our work or simply the confidence to say what we actually mean.
What paths are you exploring this season? Have you discovered any fellow travellers worth sharing? Or tools that make the journey more interesting?
Comments open for your own route reports.
Want us to work together?
🐦⬛ As well as tackling B2B messaging projects, I help midlife women talk about their businesses and position their skills so that other people want to pay for them. I work with midlife women because I'm convinced we should take over the world and all would be well. Not even half-joking 😂
If you want to talk about positioning your work, messaging strategy, web copy or email marketing, we can have a zero-pressure chat. You can reach me (Sue Moore) at inktank@substack.com
I’m Sue Moore, The Midlife Messaging Strategist & Copywriter. I share smart stuff for writers, plus musings on midlife marketing and copy psychology.